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New Member

Im really outraged in Apples decision on the headphone jack and i believe I have the right to be.

As someone who wears hearing aids, I cannot wear the earbuds provided by Apple with the iPhone. Now i cant even use my own headsphones like i at least do with ipods. Now theyre telling me I have to go out and buy this butt ugly adapter that sticks out like a penis because I have no choice in wearing their headphones because of a medical issue.

gg Apple, real smooth, the guy in the store shrugged at me and said cant help ya.

p.s. love everything else abuot iPhone but this pisses me off to no end

Member

Im really outraged in Apples decision on the headphone jack and i believe I have the right to be.

As someone who wears hearing aids, I cannot wear the earbuds provided by Apple with the iPhone. Now i cant even use my own headsphones like i at least do with ipods. Now theyre telling me I have to go out and buy this butt ugly adapter that sticks out like a penis because I have no choice in wearing their headphones because of a medical issue.

gg Apple, real smooth, the guy in the store shrugged at me and said cant help ya.

p.s. love everything else abuot iPhone but this pisses me off to no end

For what it's worth, I don't wear hearing aids and I still won't use Apple's earbuds. They're garbage. It's a kick in the junk for anybody who cares about the quality of the music they're listening to. Unfortunately neither solution is a good one - I hate having that stupid extension, but I also refuse to hack up my $120 ear buds.

I'm with you, though...I love pretty much everything else about it. The only other thing I would like to see is a more texturized case, because this little bugger seems to want to slip out of my hands more often than I'd like.

New Member

See now I agree with you but then I don't. The headphone thing is a way to make money for Apple and I say good for them. You can't expect a huge company that is designing a new product to give up a shot at that much revenue because it alienates the hearing aid section of the population. Yours is a very specific issue and I'm hard pressed to see how you can feel angry about it. They did have an adapter ready at launch (even though you don't like it). I'm sorry for your hassle but don't understand your anger. Maybe the phone isn't right for you?

New Member

Just imagine the plight of the visually impaired thanks to Apple not including brail on the touchscreen.

Look at the top of the phone's form factor. Making the jack normal would have resulted in it protruding if it is to maintain a flat surface. That would be ugly for the rest of us. Majority rules; they can't cater to everyone.

Member

See now I agree with you but then I don't. The headphone thing is a way to make money for Apple and I say good for them. You can't expect a huge company that is designing a new product to give up a shot at that much revenue because it alienates the hearing aid section of the population. Yours is a very specific issue and I'm hard pressed to see how you can feel angry about it. They did have an adapter ready at launch (even though you don't like it). I'm sorry for your hassle but don't understand your anger. Maybe the phone isn't right for you?

I don't see the issue being specific to people with hearing aids AT ALL. Anyone who has any decent ear for music knows that Apple's headphones are a joke and replaced them with something better within days of buying their first iPod. Apple went to the trouble of building an industry-standard 3.5mm headphone jack into the iPhone, but has made it virtually impossible to use it without some aftermarket adapter. If you really want to enjoy your music through a real set of headphones, you now have to carry around a dopey looking adapter everywhere.

Don't get me wrong, I love the phone...and I spent $600 for it. But the idea of nickel & dime-ing people for little odds & ends is kind of weak on Apple's part. I had to buy an adapter for my headphones. I can't use my FM transmitter/car adapter. Seems to me that they could have found a way to make the iPhone more compatible with existing accessories rather than creating an entire separate aftermarket. There are already good aftermarket products available. Why reinvent them?

New Member

Im really outraged in Apples decision on the headphone jack and i believe I have the right to be.

As someone who wears hearing aids, I cannot wear the earbuds provided by Apple with the iPhone. Now i cant even use my own headsphones like i at least do with ipods. Now theyre telling me I have to go out and buy this butt ugly adapter that sticks out like a penis because I have no choice in wearing their headphones because of a medical issue.

gg Apple, real smooth, the guy in the store shrugged at me and said cant help ya.

p.s. love everything else abuot iPhone but this pisses me off to no end

Do you have an hearing aid in both ears or just one? If just one, then maybe a bluetooth headset they sell will play music and answer the phone.
NOTE: The folks @ AT&T tell me you can listen to music with the bluetooth headset but I've read from others you can't.

New Member

New Member

Do you have an hearing aid in both ears or just one? If just one, then maybe a bluetooth headset they sell will play music and answer the phone.
NOTE: The folks @ AT&T tell me you can listen to music with the bluetooth headset but I've read from others you can't.

New Member

I agree that the adapter is a bad one. I bought one for my car and it is just way too long. After you connect the headphones/audio cable, you end up with a 3-inch thing stuck to the top of the iPhone, which turns it from sleek to completely awkward. They need to come up with a much smaller adapter.

New Member

I think if you look at the technical reasons behind the recessed audio jack, you'll see that it provides better protection for the plug and socket from lateral impact.

The case of the iPhone will brace the audio plug, and stop it from being flexed from side to side during daily use.

This makes the audio socket in the iPhone last longer, and thereforee less likely to fail.

Apple have a long history of improving plug/socket design on their laptops, and this is just another extension of that R&D where they try and solve the common physical problems that would eventually damage the device, before they actually happen.

There will be a whole bunch of adapters and new headphones with suitable sized plugs within months - just you wait and see.

New Member

Someone with more technical knowledge can correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the design of the jack partly due to the nature of the native connector having to have an extra ring for the microphone signal?

From Wikipedia:

"A three or four conductor version of the 2.5 mm plug is widely used on cell phonehandsfree headsets, providing mono (three conductor) or stereo (four conductor) sound and a microphone input. It should be noted that the use of common stereo headphones with the 2.5 mm plug are often not compatible with this type of socket."

Exactly whom am I insulting? Apple's headphones are inferior most aftermarket headphones on the market. That's not my opinion, it's fact based on tests conducted by many independent sources. A person who is concerned about the QUALITY of the sound is not going to be content with those earbuds vs. aftermarket alternatives. That's not a personal indictment of anyone in particular. If you don't believe me, then go try a pair of Shure, Sennheiser, heck...even Sony earbuds and see if you want to go back to Apple's earbuds.

Charging $500 or $600 for an iPhone is capitalism. Making sure that it just different enough that it doesn't work with virtually any existing aftermarket products is pushing it. I'm the type who buys gadgets as soon as they hit the market, but I think Apple could have done a better job of making the iPhone more compatible with existing aftermarket products. I'm sorry that I don't enjoy bending over & grabbing my ankles when I don't think I should have to.

Like I've said, I absolutely LOVE my iPhone. LOVE it. But I'm not going to pretend like it's perfect. It's the first of its kind, and there are things that could be better, or could have been done differently. That's all.

Member

Someone with more technical knowledge can correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the design of the jack partly due to the nature of the native connector having to have an extra ring for the microphone signal?

From Wikipedia:

"A three or four conductor version of the 2.5 mm plug is widely used on cell phonehandsfree headsets, providing mono (three conductor) or stereo (four conductor) sound and a microphone input. It should be noted that the use of common stereo headphones with the 2.5 mm plug are often not compatible with this type of socket."

I'm pretty sure it's exclusively due to the actual design of the phone. The 3.5mm plug is the same size regardless of whether or not the headset can handle phone calls. The extra ring you're talking about doesn't change the size or layout. It looks like Apple wanted to keep that beveled edge all the way around, and cutting out a larger hole to accommodate most headphone jacks would have ruined that line. It COULD have been done, but it wouldn't have looked as pretty. I understand that, but I probably would have been willing to sacrifice a little form for better function.

Zealot

I agree that the adapter is a bad one. I bought one for my car and it is just way too long. After you connect the headphones/audio cable, you end up with a 3-inch thing stuck to the top of the iPhone, which turns it from sleek to completely awkward. They need to come up with a much smaller adapter.

New Member

I understand why iPhone might have designed the earplug in this way, my brother has had two Ipods that no longer work because the plug won't stay connected to the input.

- Having said that, the issue I have is, the earbud headphones start to hurt my ears after about an hour. If I'm traveling and using the earbud's on a plane, I have to take them off after only a short while because the section of my ear's that hold in the bud's, start to throb..

I've always had this problem with earbud headphones and have always chosen to go with an older style instead.